Need Help With (Deathrun) Mapping

My name is Midday, and I am very new to mapping, and would love to get into it, more specifically, deathrun mapping. I am an avid fan of deathrun servers, and there is one that I always go back to. I want to create a map for them, but due to my severe lack of mapping skills and knowledge, I cannot at this point in time.

I was hoping there would be a few individuals who would be willing to help me either by joining me (yay teams) or by showing me how to go about making a deathrun map. I have a general understanding of the basics of mapping thanks to UEAKCrash's mapping tutorials on Youtube. (Thanks man, those tutorials really helped me a lot, and I cannot wait to see the rest of chapter three!)

Anyway, if you would like to join me on my quest for the Holy Grail, or in this case completing this deathrun map. Or you would like to help me by either pointing me in the right direction, showing me, giving me tips or tricks, then please feel free to either respond to this thread, or you can add me on skype which I will be conveniently including in this thread.

(Skype: MiddayFury, if you find three of them, that's okay. Two of them are my old accounts, just pick the one with the bright colors in the profile picture!)

Thank you for reading, and I hope we can work something out.
Have a great day!

-Midday

(P.s. Sorry if this thread isn't in the right section of the forums, I wasn't sure which one to put it in. Feel free to move if you deem needed!)

if you have the basics out of the way, the next thing to learn for a Deathrun mapper is logic. Things like trigger_hurt, func_door, logic_case, and so on. I'm attaching some VMFs for you to study. They are my basic deathrun template, and the VMFs for dr_castle_steveh and dr_steamworks_extreme. The latter map is/was only played at Steveh's Server (RIP) and Saxton Hell so it's probably not well known.

First thing to do is plan your map and traps. Choose a theme (if you want one) and jot down some trap ideas. Start with basic stuff like crushers and death pits, disappearing floors, etc. Then try to build them in Hammer. Deathrun maps should feel fair, have good replay value and should have a ramping difficulty. This means that the traps should start easy and get harder as players go through the map. Remember that some servers have player pushaway enabled. This means that people on the same team (i.e. Red) will collide with each other, so for your early traps, avoid anything that lets players block each other by standing on narrow ledges.

Repack your maps to compress them by as much as 90%!(steam:3179): LIBDBUSMENU-GLIB-WARNING **: Trying to remove a child that doesn't believe we're it's parent.
"It's like candy I can't reach, but this time it's on a different plane of existence." - Tuaam

Hey, thanks for the tips. I'm definitely going to check out the information that you attached. Also, about the pushaway by players, the server that I wish to make the map for has that disabled, so it shouldn't be an issue that I have to worry and think about.

I have a general theme in mind, but not sure how to go about doing it.